An Exchange of Leaders
by xMementoMorix
Summary: AU! The Greek Spartans and the Roman Gladiators are the two biggest college rivals. But when people start getting hurt, it becomes clear that it's time to do something. The plan is obvious, exchange the quarterbacks. However, the execution might go awry.
1. Chapter 1

"GO SPARTANS!"

"YOU CRUSH THEM GLADIATORS!"

The din was nearly overwhelming, the noise level outrageous. One would think they had ended up in the middle of a war, rather than the center of a football game. A college football game no less. Yet that did nothing to lessen the evident levels of intensity.

The two biggest rivals were facing off. Long Island's Spartans versus the San Francisco Gladiators. The two most competitive colleges in the nation, both on equal footing. The colleges were virtually empty, every member watching the game. Even the members of the Minerva and Athena sororities and fraternities had come to cheer on their teams.

One Athena Sorority girl in particular was cheering loudly, considering her hatred of sports. However, she had not forgotten the previous year. Her boyfriend was the quarterback of the Spartans, and last year's victory had brought euphoria to the both of them, particularly her. For a girl who's fatal flaw was pride, having her victorious boyfriend grab her in for a searing kiss in front of the whole world was particularly enjoyable.

And she was looking forward to the same thing tonight. The Spartans were one of the best teams out there, and the flames born from the fiery rivalry between the two colleges had been fanned. When the Roman Gladiators had stolen their mascot, an ewe painted gold, the Spartans had been outraged. Annabeth Chase, girlfriend of Perseus Jackson, quarterback of the Greek Spartan football team, had all but lost her boyfriend to the football team. She herself had contributed somewhat, by helping Percy create new football plays to use at the championship.

However, for some reason, against all odds, a freak storm had hit. It seemed that water and lightning were at war with each other, just like the Greek and Roman football teams. Annabeth noted that, looking up at the black sky, pushing her slick rain poncho back a little. She had made sure to look nice, actually putting forth effort into her make-up tonight. The fact was, she had an attractive and athletic boyfriend, a combination that made the Aphrodite Acrobats do flips. And yet he chose to be with the geeky yet pretty blonde. What a heartwarming cliché Cinderella story that just fit so perfectly into the college stereotype.

Annabeth was startled back into focus as a roar of sound hit her, and she realized that her team had just scored another touchdown. She jumped out of her seat and cheered wildly for the Spartans, but one in particular.

"Jeez Annabeth, you hate this sport!" Her friend Thalia grumbled beside her, pushing her choppy dark hair out of her eyes. Annabeth rolled her stormy grey eyes, and met Thalia's electric blue ones with logic on her side. "I don't hate it Thals. I just find it to be a pointless recreational activity. I hate how much time it takes away from Percy, but he loves it, so therefore, I can't hate it."

Once again, the electric blue orbs were rolling in their sockets. "You are so whipped Annabeth." She muttered. "See, that's why I joined the Artemis Sorority. That way, I'm not alone, and no boyfriends for the duration of college."

Annabeth shook her head, causing the hood of her rain poncho to fall off, and her blonde curls to get wet. "Nuh uh, no way. I have worked way too hard to get Percy to finally ask me out, and over the past year, things have been perfect. Not everyone gets lucky enough to fall in love with their best friend."

Thalia snorted at the statement. "Annabeth, the only reason you worked so hard to get Percy to fall in love with you was because his head is just full of kelp. And I'm pretty sure everyone who's besties with someone of the opposite gender falls in love with their best friend at one point or another."

"True." Annabeth conceded to Thalia's point, before continuing with a grin. "But not everyone is lucky enough for it to actually work out." As for Percy and her, their relationship was just falling into place, making the both of them extremely happy.

Annabeth turned her attention back to the game, and that was when everything went horribly wrong.

The Spartans were on defense, while the Gladiators were on offense. Their left tackle had been hurt, which was good news for the Spartans. From what Annabeth could see, it would prove to be a huge advantage, one the Spartans would be sure to explore. However, they did more than explore. They destroyed.

The ball was sent shooting back to the quarterback, but before he could even move, one of the football players, an Ares fraternity member, tackled the Gladiators' quarterback, sending his head smashing to the ground. There was a collective gasp among the crowd as everyone waited for him to get up. But he never did.

Whispers began going around the stadium, the Gladiators' side stirring angrily. Annabeth sympathized with them though. If something happened to Percy, she would probably kill someone trying to get to him. As it was, she saw a very distressed girl pushing her way through the crowd, though whether it was the quarterback's girlfriend or just a fangirl, the blonde didn't know.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Thalia asked her wise friend. However, Annabeth was at a loss for words. "I-I don't know Thals." She said shakily, and the dark haired girl bit her lip in worry. Annabeth hated not knowing, and having her willingly admit that was never good. Both of the young women turned their attention back to the football game, and watched as a horrible scene unfolded in front of them.

As the teams bent down, preparing to catch the ball, a flash of light shot through the sky, and thunder roared barely a millisecond later. Annabeth knew that the lightning had been close, dangerously so. It was as if the sky were trying to take revenge on the Spartans for hurting their player. Though Annabeth tried to dismiss the silly notion, it became impossible a second later, as her worst nightmare came alive on the football field.

A crack of lightning shot down from the sky, directly on Perseus Jackson.

**A/N: Thank you for taking the time to read my story! I've been hooked on HoO fanfiction for the past few weeks, however, I noticed that they all seem similar, give or take a few. To be quite honest, when I reread TLH, I struggled with deciphering what was an actual part of the book, or what was fanfiction. So in light of that, I decided to write an AU fanfiction. If you haven't guessed yet, it will be taking place in college, between the Greek Sparta College, and the Roman Gladiators College. Yeah, I failed at creating names. If anyone has better ideas, lemme know, okay? **

**Anyways, it will retain some of the same things from TLH and PJO, but for the most part, it will follow my own original plot. I know it isn't the typical, Percy's side of TLH, or the fanfiction sequel, but give it a try please!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Yo Valdez!"

Leo Valdez heard a familiar voice calling out to him, and after an internal argument, he put away his welding tool, and pushed his goggles up into his spiky black hair. "Whassup beauty queen?" The Latino asked the distressed girl flippantly. He ignored the ogling she, and in some cases, he got. He was used to it by this point.

Fact of the matter was, beauty queen, was not just a nickname, in regards to Piper McLean. She was a freaking goddess practically. Her dad was the world famous actor Tristan McLean, and even though her mom split as soon as she was born, according to her dad, she had been a knockout as well.

However, Piper McLean dressed to distress. She could always be found in a snowboarding jacket and combat hiking boots, her hair cut in choppy layers with two braided strands. Her jeans were always ripped and torn, and Piper was never afraid to get down and dirty, doing hard work in the workshop where Leo could usually be found.

And yet, despite the oil stains that usually covered her jeans, and everything else she did to appear unattractive, she was like a raw supermodel. Honestly, if Piper had auditioned for Transformers, she could have easily knocked Megan Fox right out of the park. At least in Leo's opinion.

Based on her looks, someone might automatically assume that she was a cheerleader, an Aphrodite Acrobat. And they'd be correct of course. However, Piper hated her position. She had joined the Acrobats because she was an exceptional gymnast, and it gave her a full ride scholarship, to a school where she truly wanted to go. However, she was starting to think the whole scholarship thing wasn't worth it, if she had to share a sorority/fraternity with those people.

For the most part, Leo didn't think she had it so bad. There were lots of good looking guys for Piper, and more than enough super fine girls for Leo. And then there was Drew. Piper complained about her constantly, because Drew was the leader of the Aphrodite Acrobats, both on the field and off. Apparently the girl was awful, turning the team into a third world dictatorship or something. All Leo cared about was the fact that she was hot, and wouldn't give Leo her number if her life depended on it. Just the way Leo liked them.

He had been begging Piper to give him the cheerleader's number for weeks to no avail. The pretty senior escaped his attentions, but that wasn't really surprising. He was just a lowly freshman after all. He was pretty popular for a freshman, but still, everyone knew that the juniors, Percy Jackson and his lovely girlfriend Annabeth Chase ruled the school.

Greek Sparta College wasn't your everday college. It was the first freeform college, and since then, other colleges had made attempts to be as successful as GSC, but only one, the Roman Gladiators College had succeeded.

But outside the school regulations, everyone knew that whoever won a championship and completed their athletic quest, became top roost at this school. Percy Jackson was legendary for winning five in the space of two years. His biggest accomplishment was the football championship last year. No one hadn't heard of him.

Leo didn't know the dude in person, but he had seen Annabeth, his girlfriend, around a few times. She was a pretty cool girl. He had expected someone like Percy to be with Drew of course, but instead he was with the smart girl from the Athena Sorority. He thought that said a lot about the athletic superhero.

He had once considered going after Annabeth Chase, after all, she met his every criteria. Gorgeous, smarter than him, dangerous, and way out of his league. However, the fact that Percy Jackson won two championships in swimming, two championships in basketball, and a football championship was enough to make even Leo Valdez back off. The only other girl capable of doing that was standing in front of him, a glare on her face.

"Sorry 'bout that beauty queen. What do you need?"

Piper rolled her kaleidoscope eyes. "It's not what I need, it's what Mr. Chiron needs." She said. "Now come on Smoky, get your fire burned butt out of here! Our Headmaster needs us!" The thought excited Piper more than it did Leo. Piper was perfect, straight A's, scholarship, and an Acrobat. There was no way she was in there for anything but good news. Leo however, had already pulled his share of pranks. A trip to Mr. Chrion's office could not bode well for the Latino.

However, he followed Piper nonetheless, listening to her chattering away about the latest campus news. Everybody knew it. Their quarterback had been struck by lightning, hospitalized, and was now missing. And apparently his girlfriend was going out of her mind with worry. Leo couldn't help but feel bad for the blonde. She had been nice when he last saw her, helping him with his Physics homework. He couldn't even imagine what she was going through. Mainly because he had never had a significant other.

Walking into Mr. Chiron's office, Leo realized there was another guy in there. Leo didn't recognize the blonde, and he was fairly sure he was a new student. He looked like the poster boy for college apparel, decked out in slacks, a collared sweater, and his blonde hair swept to the side nicely. His untied sneakers were the only indication of a personality. Based on the uncomfortable look, Leo gathered that the dude had not picked out his own clothes. Which was just sad.

Piper seemed to be at a loss for words, staring at the boy. Leo mentally groaned, praying to whatever deity that would listen, not to let Piper fall for this guy. If Leo had disastrous luck when it came to girls, than Piper was a freaking Hurricane Katrina around guys. Oh man, Leo remembered this one time, at prom, oh gods, Piper had almost cried. And for an anti-barbie Barbie, that was a mental breakdown.

"Mr. Valdez, Ms. McLean, may I introduce you to our new student? I would like for you two to show him around, along with Ms. Annabeth Chase. She should be arriving any second now. When she does, please inform her that this is Mr. Jason Grace, our new Zeus Fraternity member."

**A/N: Thank you for those who read and reviewed the first chapter! I'll be trying to switch around perspectives as much as possible, while remaining in third person point of view. If there's anything from the Lost Hero that you'd particularly like to see in this fic, let me know and I'll try to work it in!**


End file.
